17 May 2008

"It's Certainly Cheaper Than a Tranny"

Last night on my way to safety meeting, I went to turn right and suddenly my car wouldn't go anywhere. I thought maybe I had accidentally bumped the car into neutral, because that's what it felt like. I shifted the car into neutral and then into drive, but the car wouldn't move. I shifted into reverse: nothing. Back into drive: nothing. So I shifted it into neutral, got out and pushed the car into a parking lot, sort of steering the wheel and pushing at the same time. I don't know how I got the thing over a curb by myself, but somehow I did. Then I walked over to the bar (it was only about a block away) and got two of my friends to help me push the car the rest of the way into the lot. All of this shifting meant that I was pretty sure it was the transmission that was the problem. So I had the car towed to my usual mechanic. They open at 8:00a on Saturdays, so I figured I'd leave them the key with a little note in their night drop-box and then call them around 8:15 or so to tell them about the car.They called me at 8:05 to tell me that it wasn't the transmission at all, but the right axle, which they could fix for $200.00. "Certainly cheaper than a tranny," he said. He called me again at five minutes after nine to tell me that it was fixed and I could pick it up whenever I was ready.So no new-car shopping for me this week. My car is just fine. It is a piece of junk, of course, but as the AAA man wisely said to me as he hoisted my Honda Civic onto his tow-truck, "They all have their problems." True story, tow-truck man. True story.